{"id":103,"slug":"doctorow-enshittification-pattern","title":"Doctorow: \"enshittification\" — the three-phase decay pattern of platforms (Word of the Year 2023 + 2024)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","platform-lock-in"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Cory Doctorow coined \"enshittification\" in November 2022; the American Dialect Society named it **2023 Word of the Year**; Macquarie Dictionary named it **2024 Word of the Year**. Doctorow's book *Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It* was released **October 2025**.\n\n**Quote (Doctorow, Pluralistic, Jan 21, 2023):**\n\n> \"First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.\"\n\n**Source:** Pluralistic (Doctorow's blog), Jan 21, 2023; Wikipedia \"Enshittification\"; Locus Magazine coverage.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**For Candid use:** Useful framing for client conversations about platform choice — but **deploy as a diagnostic, not a law**. Some platforms (Stripe, Cloudflare, Postgres, Linux) have not enshittified despite being enormous. The pattern applies most cleanly to vertically-integrated, two-sided, advertising-funded platforms with switching costs. See [[doctorow-right-of-exit-interoperability]] for the prescription side.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"doctorow-right-of-exit-interoperability","title":"Doctorow's prescription: \"right of exit\" requires interoperability, not just open source","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"research-brief-owning-your-stack","title":"Research brief: Owning your stack — why agency-managed platforms cost more than they save (piece 4 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"research-brief-built-to-last","title":"Research brief: Built to Last — why most SMB sites rebuild every 3-4 years (piece 5 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"elementor-pro-pricing-strip-essential-nov-2023","title":"Elementor Pro Nov 2023: removed ACF/Pods integration from Essential plan for new customers","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"bricks-199-lifetime-retired-jan-2024","title":"Bricks Builder retired $199 unlimited-sites lifetime license in January 2024","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:17:26.731Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:17:26.731Z"}